


Much Better Than a Crossword

by DktrAgonizer



Category: The Darkness (Games)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 00:42:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4586484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DktrAgonizer/pseuds/DktrAgonizer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enzo drops in to ask Johnny a few questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Much Better Than a Crossword

He can hear Johnny babbling to himself as he stands right outside the library’s doors. Something about seeing color or some shit, but he doesn’t pay attention. The one-sided conversation with himself stops anyway once Enzo steps into the room.

“Hey there, bridge-man, how’s it hangin’?” he says, flashing Johnny a smile. He’d been going through some loose papers when Enzo walked in, apparently, because he spins around away from the table with them in hand.

“Uh, just. You know, looking at. Things. Hi?”

“So, what’d you hafta do?” Enzo asks, leaning casually against one of the displays. Johnny glances at him before refocusing on the papers in his hands.

“What, do for what?” he asks, thumbing through the pages with a frown. At this point, Enzo’s sure he’s trying to look busy in the hope that he won’t have to actually take part in the conversation, but Enzo’s not giving up that easily. With Jackie out going after the Brotherhood, and half the other guys out doing some sort of whatever the fuck they feel like doing, there’s not much else to do here. And besides, he won’t lie; he’s curious.

“You spent, what, a year or so livin’ under that bridge?” Enzo pushes himself away from the display to stand closer to Johnny. The skinny fuck flinches back, as if expecting a fist to swing into his space. His eyes flick up from the papers in his hand to Enzo, then back down. 

“Yyyeah, so, so what?”

“How’d ya do it? How’d you survive there that long?” Enzo takes a small step backwards, noting the way Johnny relaxes visibly when he’s just a bit farther back. “Couldn’t have been easy. Doubt I could do it.”

Johnny gives up and sets the stack of papers on the desk. He runs one hand through his thinning hair and holds the other somewhere in front of him, fingers curling and flexing endlessly. “I-i-it, well, it WASN’T. Reeeally wasn’t a lotta fun, and I REEEEALLY don’t recommend it.” He lets out a fast, high-pitched laugh. “Honestly, I-I-I don’t know how _I_ did it! I, uh, I DID do it, right? L-l-like I _am_ here, right? Back in the employment of one Jackie Estacado?”

Enzo raises one brow as Johnny rattles on. He really _was_ different - he can still remember the guy as he was before, when Jackie first brought him in to help control the Darkness. A young student straight outta college, eager and knowledgeable and definitely sane. He’d stuttered words sometimes here and there, in his excitement, but this…

He wonders how much of it is from his exposure to the dark essence and how much of it is from time spent alone out on the streets. 

Enzo steps into his space again, and Johnny takes an instinctive step back - right into the table. “Fffuck!” he hisses, and instantly sits down on the edge to rub at the back of his banged shin. Enzo continues to move forward until he’s toe-to-toe with Johnny, then lowers himself into a crouch.

“How’d ya pass the time out there?” he asks, in the quietest and most gentle voice he can muster.

Johnny glances up sharply to meet his gaze. His mismatched eyes widen considerably and the blood rushes to his cheeks as he deliberately looks away. “I-I-I don’t, fffuck, I don’t know, lllike normal people without a house or, or, or goddamn family would? Ffound, uh, crosswords, llllooked in the wanted ads, you know. TALKED to people. Drove them AWAY with all my, my, EVERYTHING, but yooou know how it goes.”

Enzo has to bite back a laugh at the quick desperation with which the other man’s words are tumbling out of his mouth. His hands grip the edges of the table so hard his knuckles are turning white. “No family, huh?” Enzo presses. “They off and die or somethin’?”

Johnny rolls his neck and grimaces, still looking anywhere but at Enzo’s face. “Nno, no, I - I didn’t want to, want to TELL them aaanything, beg for, you know. I, they, they still THINK I’m, I’m in college, liiike a NORMAL kid, doing whatever the ffFUCK they think I’m doing. ...I-I haven’t spoken to them in, in a while.”

Poor thing’s shaking with nerves. Maybe he should lay off a little, but he doesn’t want to. This is the most entertainment he’s had since he and Giorgio hit up the pool hall with half a dozen drinks already under their belts two weeks ago. He’s still got bruises from bar fights that night.

“Well,” Enzo says, watching Johnny closely. “Now that you’re _here,_ I can propose a few better ways of spendin’ your time other than fillin’ out some stupid crossword.”

Johnny swipes his tongue over his lips nervously, and Enzo’s pretty sure he’s trying to push himself into the table to escape. “Yyeah, how’s that?”

“You’d be pretty good lookin’ if you weren’t losin’ so much hair,” Enzo notes, pulling his lips back to flash a devious grin. Johnny’s eyes finally dart around to meet his again and, this time, he looks almost offended.

“Ohhh, sure, like I can help my GENES -”

Enzo brings his head forward until his face is mere centimeters away from Johnny’s. “Don’t matter none, though,” he whispers. “You still look alright.”

Johnny gulps, and his eyes flicker around uncertainly. His breaths are quick and shallow, and the heat feels pleasant against Enzo’s face. “I-I’m not -”

“Not what?” Enzo presses, bringing one hand up to rest on Johnny’s knee. “If I’m layin’ it on too thick, I can tone it down.”

Johnny makes a frustrated noise in his throat and suddenly his hands are on Enzo’s shoulders. His touch is light, uncertain, as if he’s not sure whether he should keep them there or take them away - or maybe he’s debating whether or not to push Enzo back.

When he doesn’t say anything, Enzo closes the gap and meets Johnny’s lips with his own. The hands on his shoulders seem to convulse before closing into a tight, desperate grip. Enzo keeps one hand on Johnny’s knee and brings his other up to Johnny’s thigh.

He can tell Johnny doesn’t exactly know what he’s doing. He’s wound up real tight, too; all the tension had pooled right back into him the moment Enzo got back into his space. Still, Johnny clings to him like he’s holding on for dear-fuckin’-life as they kiss.

Enzo breaks the kiss after a moment and grins at Johnny stares at him with wide, glassy eyes. “Much better than a crossword, am I right?” he says, straightening up a little so he’s standing in a sort of half-crouch. He moves forward so that he’s got one leg pressed right between Johnny’s, and his other leg is resting against the table’s edge. Johnny’s breath hitches in his throat as Enzo leans down to kiss him again.

The fingers on his shoulders dig in all the harder and Johnny lets himself be pressed back into the table. Enzo breaks the kiss again to trail his mouth across Johnny’s cheek down to the crook of his neck. “This-” Johnny’s voice breaks on the word and he clears his throat to try again. His voice is shaky and breathless, but he’s able to get the sentence out this time. “Is this what you do to pass the time here?”

Enzo laughs into his neck. “Sometimes. Not alla the guys are real into this sorta thing, y’know? Few of ‘em got wives, a coupla mistresses on the side…” He presses another kiss to Johnny’s neck and says, “Butcher, though. S’a real shame there, I’d love to handle his meat.”

Johnny lets out a bark of laughter and it gets Enzo laughing again, too, and he lets his weight drop on Johnny. “Ow, fuck!” Johnny gasps, but his grip on Enzo’s shoulders finally relax and his hands smooth over to his back.

Enzo moves his head again and rests his lips against the corner of Johnny’s mouth. “Want me to handle yours?” he mumbles, and he can feel Johnny’s nerves practically burn at the question.

“I-” is all Johnny gets out before the door to the library slams open. Enzo doesn’t move as Johnny lets out a gasp at the intrusion.

“What the hell are you two chucklefucks doing?” Vinnie’s voice. “Take it to the damn bedroom. Jesus, you trying to ruin the furniture?”

“It’s just a table, Vin, nobody cares,” Enzo says over his shoulder. He presses one last kiss to Johnny’s mouth before standing up and moving away, hands held up complacently. “But sure, sure, whatever ya say. I don’t want no trouble.”

Johnny’s got his face in one hand, with the other twisted up in his hair. He’s trying to slow his breathing and compose himself. Vinnie gives him one long look before looking back over at Enzo and raising one brow as if to say, “Him? Really?”

Enzo gives him a smile. “C’mon, Vin, you know how lonely it gets up here.”

“Yeah, well, mess up the books and it’ll be on your heads, not mine.” Vinnie gives the both of them another disapproving look before he turns around and leaves.

Enzo rolls his eyes. “Sorry about that,” he says, looking over to where Johnny is still sitting with his face as red as possible. “Doin’ alright there?”

“Yyyeah, yeah, sorry, just. Wow.” Johnny drops both of his hands and flexes his fingers. “That, uh…”

Enzo holds out a hand. “Hey, bud, we can do what he says if ya like. I mean, if you wanna take it further.”

Johnny stares at the outstretched hand, then his eyes flick up to meet Enzo’s. He chews on his bottom lip furiously for a moment, then cracks a nervous sort of smile. “Yeah… I’d, I’d like that.” He takes Enzo’s hand and lets himself be pulled up from the table. Some of the papers underneath him flutter to the floor with the movement, but neither of them bother to stop and pick them up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Consider leaving a comment letting me know your thoughts; I'd love to read them!


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